Taxation, Wealth, and Saving

"David F. Bradford is the deepest thinker, bar none, among public finance economists. His writings on consumption taxation and saving are consistently insightful, important, and elegant." -- Joel Slemrod, Paul W. McCracken Professor of Business Economicsand Public Policy; Director, Office of Tax Policy Research, University of Michigan Business School The papers in this volume reflect David Bradford's dual experience as a theoretical economist and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury for Tax Policy and Director of the Treasury's Office of Tax Analysis. While at the Treasury, Bradford was involved in producing the 1977 report entitled Blueprints for Basic Tax Reform. Blueprints describes two models for fundamental income tax reform. One is based on the Haig-Simons income concept, which still dominates American income tax thinking. The other, which builds on an intellectual tradition dating back to John Stuart Mill, is based on consumption. Eventually...